A Hobart man with a history of sexually abusing animals who is asking a judge to consider imposing "chemical castration" as a condition of his release appeared in federal court Thursday but didn't get an answer, according to court records.

Michael Bessigano, 47, wore a yellow-and-white-striped Lake County Jail uniform, thick-lensed glasses with his hair in a relaxed Mohawk as he sat next to his attorney, Jennifer Soble Thursday morning.

Judge Philip P. Simon asked Bessigano a series of basic questions about his background and current health before beginning the court proceedings. Bessigano told the judge his highest level of education is a high school diploma and that he turned 47 on Wednesday.

Bessigano has been a federal inmate housed at the jail since he was arrested in January for allegedly violating his probation by knowingly receiving "obscene matters from an interactive computer service," according to court documents.

"I think it is an intractable problem," Simon said.

Simon then closed the rest of the hearing to the public, saying that attorneys would refer to Bessigano's mental health history while making their arguments.

"Anything that relates to his mental health ... are under seal, period," Simon said.

Simon added that Bessigano's sentencing would be public. That date had not been scheduled as of Thursday afternoon, court records show.

Last month, Bessigano asked that the court consider the time he's spent incarcerated and release him on the condition that he undergoes chemical hormone treatments, using the drug Depo-Lupron, that would reduce his testosterone levels.

The government argued in a filing this week that Bessigano's request should be denied. Assistant U.S. Attorney Toi Denise Houston said the defense "simply dropped the proposal into the hands of the court with absolutely no information or tools on how such a treatment plan might be implemented; whether the plan has been implemented (unsuccessful or successful) for supervised release; the medical consequences to the defendant; and the impact on probation having to monitor such a treatment plan," the court document states.

Prosecutors also said it "seems unlikely" that the probation office would agree "to be tasked with such an unexplored supervisory treatment procedure" that has "unmistakable potential library as well as the ethical issues presented," court records show.

Instead, the government said that Bessigano should be sentenced to 24 months incarceration followed by supervision, according to court records.

In 2009, Bessigano pleaded guilty to a federal charge that he knowingly received "obscene matters from an interactive computer service" when he downloaded pornography involving animals from the internet. He was released under supervision in 2010, according to court records.

Bessigano subsequently violated the conditions of his release when he accessed obscene material on the internet in 2017, records show.

Bessigano's history of animal abuse dates to the early 1990s in Lake and Porter counties, according to court records. Prosecutors argue that his "series of arrests, which include cruelty, mutilation and torture charges, demonstrate that his actions were neither inadvertent, nor accidental," according to a court records.

The defense said that "Mr. Bessigano's history is unique; his entire history within both the federal and state systems is entirely animated by his unusual sexual preferences," according to court documents.

"Those preferences are almost certainly the result of Mr. Bessigano's remarkably traumatic childhood; unable to receive or seek affection from his parents, he sought that affection from animals," Soble wrote in a court filing.

Soble said that the "concrete solution" to resolving his aberrant behavior is through the hormone treatment, not more time in federal prison. She said prisons are not equipped to help people such as Bessigano with necessary treatment.

"Mr. Bessigano poses no risk of harm whatsoever to the human members of his community," Soble wrote.

The government countered that the fact that Bessigano served time "does not negate the fact that he violated his conditions of federal supervision," court records show.

The defense's proposal "never suggests a 'cure,' simply a potential treatment," and that treatment "does not eliminate sexual drive," the government said in court documents.